This Constant Struggle
by bemusedmuse
Summary: REDO. Arthur has finally found peace - in Ariadne. But, with constant threats and uncertainties, will the danger of the job be the thing that tears them apart? I know, I know - sumary sucks... Arthur/Ariadne
1. The Dream

**I decided to scrap the other version and try again. I hope this is at least **_**moderately**_** better. **

**Some things you may need to know:**

**Arthur and Ariadne have been "together" for about two months now.**

**Arthur can still dream, and does so frequently.**

**You can wake up by killing yourself in a real dream, not just a PASIV-induced dream.**

Arthur was standing in their current workshop, looking over his notes when he felt small arms wrap around his chest. "Hello, Arthur," Ariadne said. Arthur loosened up and slightly leaned back against her. He brought his arms up and put his hands over hers, which were resting on his heart. "Hello."

Ariadne smiled as he turned and wrapped her in his arms, coming closer to lay a small kiss on her forehead. "And what are we doing today?" she asked, her voice slightly muffled by his tie.

"We've got a Mark, so – work," Arthur said as he traced her jaw with the tip of his nose.

Ariadne looked up and brought her hand to his face. "Hmm. Sounds boring." She ran her finger along the line of his eyebrow, and then slowly, finally, made it come to rest cupping his smooth cheek. "Let's go to breakfast," she added, her voice lightening a bit. "I want some pancakes."

"Okay," Arthur said, in between placing gentle kisses along her neck. He leaned back. "Let's go." She smiled.

Then, Arthur leaned down, and, ever so slowly, captured Ariadne's lips with his own.

She let out a fragile-sounding gasp. Arthur loved it when she made that noise. One small hand came up to cup his face, while the other was placed on the back of his neck, bringing him closer to her. Arthur wrapped his arms around her tiny waist and deepened the kiss. He broke away for air, placing his forehead to hers. Arthur leaned down and gently kissed each of Ariadne's eyelids. Looking up, Ariadne saw him. Arthur - without the veil of hidden emotions, everything he was feeling written out plainly on his face.

Everything was perfectly still. Arthur loved the peace he felt with her. How he always felt wanted, felt _at home_. He now understood what he had heard Mal mention to Cobb when the dreams got out of hand. He knew what it was to be half of a whole.

"Alright, I'll get my bag," Ariadne said, taking a breath and backing out of Arthur's arms, making her way across the floor.

Arthur stayed where he was, leaned back against the desk, and watched as she clumsily wandered across the room. He stood there, just gazing, pondering in silence.

The serine moment exploded into a loud string of gunfire.

The windows blew out and Arthur brought his hands up to shield his face from the glass. He didn't think twice as he started running across the room, screaming Ariadne's name.

He made it to her amazingly fast and Arthur quickly caught her falling body and heard her make a small noise of pain, and it cut him through and through. She should not have to make that noise. It wasn't right.

He heard her wince in pain as he dragged her behind a desk. Ariadne smiled up at him as he cradled her to his form. Arthur looked down and noticed the vast amount of blood pouring out of the different holes in her sweater. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no…"

Ariadne brought her hands to his face. Arthur looked back at her, noticing the red around her mouth when she smiled up at him.

And she died.

Arthur kept looking at her. Just _looked _at her. He was empty.

Silently laying her down, he again became aware of the chaos around them. The far windows were shot through and he could see masked men on the roof of the opposite building.

He looked back down at Ariadne. Arthur slowly drew his gun, placed it to his temple and pulled the trigger.

~vOvOvOvOvOv~

Arthur woke with a start. He grabbed his totem of the side table. Squeezing the small dye, he looked around him and remembered where he was – Araidne's apartment.

He calmed his breathing and - setting his totem back on the table – lay back down, wrapping his arms around Ariadne's small form. He buried his face in her hair and brought his legs behind hers, his body completely lining Ariadne's.

Ariadne stirred. "Is everything alright?" she said, groggily, picking up and then placing her head back on the pillow.

Arthur pulled her hair away from her neck, fanning it across the pillow above them. "Yes. Everything's alright." He kissed the exposed skin.

Feeling Ariadne drift back to sleep in his arms, he sighed into her neck. This was the third night he'd had that dream.

**This is a multi-chapter fic, so tell me what you guys think! I've pretty much got the story worked out in my head but ideas are always appreciated! Please comment – I need all the help I can get right now.**


	2. The Morning

**Woohoo! Chapter two! Warning : Extreme Fluff**

**This did not come out as expected… Well, there's always next chapter! :D**

Arthur awoke the next morning to a snoring Ariadne. He slowly untangled himself from her various limbs and ran a hand through her hair. Hitting the alarm, as to not wake her up, he gently pulled the covers back and got up.

Arthur padded off to the bathroom, closed the door and started the shower. Waiting for the water to heat up, he glanced at himself in the mirror. The bags under his eyes were defiantly making themselves known on his face. He silently thanked whatever god there was out there that there had only been one dream last night. He was sure that he couldn't take much more of this.

The dreams were already interfering with his work, and that was unacceptable. About a week after the dreams had started, he and Eames were hooked up while Ariadne was working on her layouts. They were going over Eames' target - practicing his actions as to seem inconspicuous to the Mark – when Arthur saw her – Ariadne.

He knew immediately that it was his projection of her. She was a far ways off. Eames changed back, teasing Arthur when he saw Ariadne. ("Just can't keep your mind of off her, can we, love," Eames said with a wink.)

The Ariadne - projection looked up from touching her light blue scarf, noticed Arthur and Eames staring and smiled, moving to make her way over to them.

Arthur was about to abort the simulation when a tall figure stepped out from behind a corner and began moving towards her in an almost-run, an air of menace about him. His hands swayed from side to side, something flashing in the dreamed-up sunlight as the figure quickened his pace.

Arthur's gut wrenched and he started running towards her, yelling at her to move – she was in danger.

The figure ran up behind Ariadne, brought his hand to her neck. Arthur ran faster.

The Ariadne-projection fought, bringing her hands up to slap the faceless figure, kicking out her legs. He gave a sickly chuckle and Arthur was _almost there…_

And the figure brought his knife up and across Ariadne's smooth neck in one quick, silent motion.

Arthur heard her make a gurgling noise as he reached them. He pulled his gun and shot the now laughing figure several times - a few more times than necessary. Not bothering to watch him fall as well, Arthur turned his attention to Ariadne.

She was on the ground, a pool of blood gathering around her neck and head. "Shit."

Arthur reached down and brushed the hair out of her face. He put his hands over his eyes. "_Why does this keep happening? What's wrong with me?" _Arthur thought.

Getting up and turning around, Arthur noticed Eames standing behind him, looking over the scene.

"Jesus Christ, Arthur."

Arthur proceeded to shoot himself in the head.

~vOvOvOvOvOv~

After getting out of the shower, Arthur dried his hair and put it in its customary gelled-back style. Pulling on dark boxers and pleated pants, he went to start the coffee.

Arthur walked back into the bedroom and noticed Ariadne was not yet awake. He checked his watch. Making his way over to his side of the bed, Arthur crawled on top of the covers and sat down in the middle.

He nudged her. "Ariadne…" No response.

"Ari," he said, his hand gently rocking her shoulder.

She groaned and rolled over, face-up and arms over her head.

Arthur chuckled and gently leaned over her, resting the length of his body against hers. "Ari, wake up. We've got to go to work." He kissed her nose and she smiled sleepily.

Ariadne still didn't move. Arthur sighed and sat up in the middle of the bed, grabbing and pulling her arms with him. She forcefully sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Good Morning," she said pleasantly.

"Whatever you say, Dragon breath," Arthur said, chuckling. Ariadne frowned and brought her hand up to her mouth, cupping it. She cringed as she smelled her breath. Arthur laughed loudly. She cut her eyes at him. "Fine then, I'll go brush my teeth." She said, starting to slide across the bed.

Arthur grabbed her wrist and pulled her against his bare chest. Hugging her tightly, he chuckled. "Good Morning, Ari."

Ariadne ran her hands up and down his back. It was bumpy, marked all around with little scars and stories. She felt along his spine, ignoring the shiver run along him at her light touch. "What's this one from?" she asked, her finger running across a small, raised circle.

"Well," he said, pulling her hair back from her neck and laying a small kiss on the sensitive part below her ear. "That's from a bullet wound."

He heard her quick intake of breath and smiled to himself. "You've been shot?" she asked, horror in her voice.

"Yes. Cobb and I failed an extraction, making things even worse for the man." He felt her tiny hands ball into fists against his back and he ran fingers up and down her arms.

"He wanted us to extract information from his dying brother, making him the beneficiary of his brother's entire estate. He would become a multi-millionaire. He had run across some bad luck, and he owned some very dangerous men a very large sum of money, as Cobb and I understood." Ariadne made circles around the scar with her index finger.

"We failed, the brother finding out we were extractors and deducing who our employer was. When we woke up, we left his brother in peace and met up with him in an abandoned hotel." Arthur felt her other hand come up cup the back of his head.

"We told him what had happened and we started to leave. As our backs were turned, he must have pulled a gun. And he shot me. All I remember after that is short bursts of Cobb's face outside and in a car, and then waking up in the hospital."Arthur chuckled to himself.

Ariadne leaned back, looking him straight in the eye. "There is nothing funny about you being shot."

Arthur smiled at her serious expression. "Oh, trust me – I know. I was thinking of Cobb's face. He was really worried. Apparently, there was a lot of blood and I really was very lucky to have survived. But, looking back, his faces were just damn _hilarious_," Arthur said, cracking up again.

Ariadne frowned at him. She brought her hand to his face. "I don't like the thought of you in danger."

Arthur frowned. "_You have no idea; I have to see you in danger every night." _Arthur thought of all the ways he'd seen her die these past three weeks. _Shot, stabbed, strangled, drowned, bludgeoned, trampled, shot again. _He quickly brought both of his hands to the sides of her face and mashed his lips down on hers.

Ariadne felt the emotion through his lips. _Frustration, anger, fear. _She kissed him back. _Happiness, acceptance, love. _

**What do you think so far? Is it terrible? You can tell me if it was terrible... *hint hint - please reviews?* **


	3. Threats on the Job

**M'kay! Getting on with the story a little bit. What do you guys think so far? If you have any ideas, please don't hesitate to tell me! **

Shirt on, tie tied, sweater thrown over his arm, Arthur was ready for the day. Except, _"Belt," _he thought. He laid his sweater down on a waist-high pile of sketchbooks by the couch.

On his way back to the bedroom, he noticed steam was coming out of the half-open door to the bathroom – Ariadne taking her shower. Her voice floated down the hallway to his ears.

"Oh, I'd like to visit the moon, on a rocket ship high in the air."

Arthur walked slowly down the narrow hallway, a slow smile spreading across his face.

"Yes, I'd like to visit the moon, but I don't think I'd like to live there."

He placed his hand on the wall, leaning against it, head down.

"Though I'd like to look down on the earth from above, I would miss all the places and people I love."

Arthur smiled at her childish lyrics, "_Only Ari would sing 'Sesame Street' in the shower,"_ he thought to himself, smirking.

"So although I might like it for one afternoon, I don't want to live on the moon."

She cut off the water and Arthur went to grab his belt, all smiles.

~vOvOvOvOvOv~

The Job was a simple one – just your common, run-of-the-mill suspected murder.

The Team (Arthur, Ariadne, Eames. They didn't need sedation for a simple one-layer dream, so Yusef was in Mombasa, happily spending his double pay from Siato. And no Cobb because… Well, because Cobb had bigger priorities) was assembled in Los Angeles. They had stayed when they received a job offer for two weeks after the Fischer Job.

Their employer was a lawyer - Martin Harper – who was working on busting a Mob Boss – Alejandro Ruiz - for the murder of a pregnant woman. If proven guilty, Ruiz would be put away for life. After this had happened, it would only be too easy to get the whole family for their various drug and murder charges.

Harper had very good evidence, but he was missing a key point – Ruiz's alibi, it was clean. The owner of a restaurant had taken the stand and said that Ruiz was eating there, by himself, the time of the murder.

Harper explained to Arthur and the rest of them that the owner was a member of the 'family' and that Ruiz ate there very often.

So, he needed the team to go in and see where Ruiz had been at the time of the murder. If he was the one who had murdered the woman and then dumped her body at the local park, then maybe they could see where he had killed her – or had hired someone else to kill her.

Arthur knew it was a long shot, but the man was willing to pay them generously and Ariadne had been _so_ looking forward to building something amazing. So – they had taken the job.

But, somehow Ruiz had found out about the little scheme and The Team had received a very heated phone call about a week ago.

~vOvOvOvOvOv~

"Listen, you fuckers," the raspy voice said through the machine in the Warehouse. "We're on to you and if you don't stop what you are doing immediately, there will be consequences."

Eames looked across the table to Arthur. He was looking, stone-faced, at the machine. Ariadne curled the edge of her dark purple scarf in her slender hand.

"We hope you understand. You will drop the job immediately and go on your merry way, forgetting what Mr. Harper has told you. We do not repeat ourselves, so we hope the message has gotten through - for your sakes." The machine beeped loudly, signaling to them the message was over.

"How in the hell did they get this number?" Eames asked.

"Maybe we should stop," Ariadne suggested, resting her hands on her hips. "We don't know what these people are capable of doing."

"Oh, darling, I'm sure we'll be fine. We've dealt with much worse than this, Arthur and I," Eames said, brushing crumbs off his jacket.

Ariadne looked over at Arthur, who was still looking at the machine, no emotion on his face.

"What do you think we should do?" she asked him.

He brought his hand up to his mouth, and then pulled it away in a somewhat frustrated motion. "I think we'll be fine," he said. "Eames is right – We've dealt with worse."

"Well then," Eames said brightly, clapping his hands together in a quick, hurried way. "Now that we have dealt with _that_ little upset – Who's for lunch?"

**Ha! Eames, always so serious… Review, please! **


	4. Warnings Unheeded

Arriving at the Warehouse, Arthur went straight to his desk. Pulling his laptop out of his bag, he started researching Ruiz's schedule.

Repetition key for Extraction and, much to his hidden delight, Arthur had found a pattern. Once every month, Ruiz would go to San Francisco – under-the-counter arms purchasing.

He would go with his right-hand-man, Alverez. They would get two connected rooms in the St. Regis (Ruiz demands only the best – it's just who he is.), check in, do business and go out on the town. They usually got back to the hotel around three. This is when they would go in.

Ruiz always scheduled a 10 am wake-up call. This gave them about six to seven hours to get in, extract the information and get out. Plenty of time.

~vOvOvOvOvOv~

Around eleven, Eames walked in. Moving slowly across the floor to his desk, Eames groaned and put his hands to his forehead. He looked a bit green.

"Hangover, Eames?" Arthur asked, a sarcastic tint to his voice and a smirk on his face.

"Oh, _do_ shut up, will you," Eames said quietly.

Ariadne giggled and got up, heading towards her ailing friend. Taking his bag and placing it next to his chair, she made him sit down. "I'll get you a glass of water." Her face was covered with a self-satisfied smirk. "To much alcohol and hookers, not enough sleep?"

"Oh, Ha_ bloody_ ha," Eames muttered.

~vOvOvOvOvOv~

Around eight, Eames was feeling much better. Better, even, enough to get a drink.

"I'm going for drinks," he announced loudly, causing Ariadne to jump at the sudden noise in the normally-silent warehouse and gaining an annoyed glance from Arthur. "Who wants to tag along?"

Arthur looked pointedly at the papers in front of him. He was not in the mood to deal with Eames tonight.

"I'm coming!" Ariadne announced excitedly. Arthur briefly looked up at this, his expression not changing except for a slight narrowing of his eyes.

"Wonderful," Eames said, watching her get up and start to gather her things. He looked at Arthur, who hadn't moved. "And what about you, darling? Are you going to come have some fun or are you going to be a stick in the mud, as per usual?" A smirk flaunted itself on Eames' joking face.

"Yeah, Arthur. You should come," Ariadne said, standing in front of his desk, putting her hands over the paper he was writing on. He looked up and watched as she made her way around his desk and grabbed his hand, yanking him up from the chair. "C'mon. You need a break."

Arthur looked into her smiling eyes. "Okay."

"Fabulous," Eames exclaimed, walking towards the door, Arthur and Ariadne following, hand in hand. "We needed a designated driver."

~vOvOvOvOvOv~

Arthur drove with Ariadne in the front, Eames in the back, as he followed Eames' directions to what he said was "An exceptional bar, darling. And it doesn't even have any strippers."

Ariadne laughed at this, Arthur kept his attention on the road.

About ten minutes later, Ariadne turned around. "How far away is this place?"

"Not too long now, love."

Arthur felt a buzzing at his hip. Reaching down, he picked up his phone. He motioned for them to be quiet as he said "Hello?"

"Hello, Arthur," An unfamiliar voice answered him. Ariadne looked at him questioningly.

"Who is this?" he said, a frown on his face.

"We warned you. We _told _you to stop your operation. There are always consequences, Arthur."

"Alverez?"

"Of course. Now, Arthur, we warned you and you didn't heed the warning." Arthur noticed how he always used the word 'we', as if they were a collective, all talking through one person. In the back of his mind, he supposed this could be true. "We hoped that it wouldn't come to this, but, it appears we have no choice. You have to be made an example of. You do not play with the Ruiz family."

"Wait, what are you saying?" Arthur looked towards Ariadne with a look of worry. She touched his face, meeting his worried eyes with her own.

"Good bye, Arthur," Alverez said menacingly.

Ariadne heard Arthur whisper her name as the car buckled under them.

Arthur felt her hand leave his face as a deafening sound went up all around him. Then, a monumentous force was pushing him one way as another was pulling him the opposite. Arthur saw a flash of orange and a streak of brown through go through the windshield. Then all he saw was white.

**Hopefully that was dramatic. It's my first time writing this sort of thing, so… Review! More reviews = faster updates**


	5. Everything Is Upsidedown

**Sorry that took so long. I really have no excuse, except maybe being lazy. :D**

He was… Upside down.

Arthur blinked and turned his head, flinching from a striking pain in his neck. He was in his car, and he was upside down. _"Where's Ari?"_

He slowly brought his hands up, released his seatbelt, and fell painfully to the roof of the car. Feeling glass cutting into his back, Arthur flipped around and surveyed the damage.

Both the windshield and front windows were blown out, the back windows all cracked and missing large pieces of their protective glass. He looked out, noticing the random bits of flaming car sitting in the road.

Then, Arthur saw her: "Ariadne."

She was lying in an unnatural position in the road, a little ways of from the front of the car.

Arthur started dragging himself through the once-windshield. He noticed blood on his hands, streaming down his arms from his rolled-up shirtsleeves. A dull throb came from his thigh. Once through the glass, Arthur hefted himself up and stumbled over to Ariadne.

He fell to his knees beside her crumbled form, brought her into his lap. Arthur rested her head on his chest and brushed away glass from her hair and face, flipping her over.

There was a large cut on her cheek. He could feel blood soaking through his shirt from where her head rested against his chest, felt the warm liquid pool on his torso. Her legs had twisted backwards; one arm was pulled up around her head. Arthur swallowed the bile that rose up in his throat and banished all emotion.

He finally looked into her eyes. They smiled up at him. "Ariadne, I'm going to get you out of here."

"Don't kid yourself, Arthur," she brought her free hand to his face, tracing the straight line of his eyebrow. She sucked in a quick, pained breath and brought her hand back down to her abdomen.

Arthur's eyes clouded with a murky red. He brought his hand to his face – one still supporting Ariadne – and wiped away the blood pouring from a gash in his head. Looking back down at Ariadne, Arthur noticed her pained expression and followed her hand to where it rested on her stomach.

"Ari, you'll get through this._ I'll_ get you through this."

She laughed - a sweet, tinkling sound that ended in a shaking cough. She pulled her hand away from her mouth, closed her fist to hide the blood from his terrified gaze. "_I'm leaving him here alone," _she thought.

Arthur looked down at her, his brain placing down the numbers his heart ignored. She _will_ survive. She had to.

"Arthur, Ariadne, darling?" Eames called from some distance off, sounding somehow broken. Arthur looked around. People had gathered on the sidewalks, staring. Not doing anything. Most just glanced and walked past the brutal accident. He heard some woman franticly talking into what he assumed was a phone, asking for help, for ambulances.

Looking back down, he noticed Ariadne's eyelids had started to slowly slip down…

"_Ari! _ Wake up!" Arthur shook her roughly back and forth, earning another blood-gurgling cough from Ariadne. But she looked up at him again. He brought her hand back to rest against his cheek. "You have to stay awake."

She looked up at him. "Arthur?"

"Ariadne?"

"I love you."

"I love _you_." Arthur slowly brought his face down to hers, holding her eyes. He captured her lips, tasting blood in his mouth. Ariadne squeezed his hand resting on her stomach, closed her eyes.

He felt when her lips grew slack, her hand unresponsive. He grabbed both sides of her face and mashed his lips down on hers – as if he could will her back to him, if only he put enough effort into it…

Sirens screamed around him, tires gave off a burnt-rubber smell as they screeched to a halt.

Arthur put his forehead to Ariadne's. He tasted blood in his mouth. Laying Ariadne down, he drew his gun. _"This has to be a dream. This only happens in dreams." _His mouth tasted of tears.

People were shuffling behind him, yelling at someone to come back.

He drew his gun from his hip and held it tenderly in his hands.

"_Of course this is a dream. Ariadne can't _die_," _He thought. But Arthur had been _so sure _that he was in reality…

Arthur pulled the safety down.

"_I'll be home." _He brought the gun to his temple, finger on the trigger. "_Half of a whole."_

**Reviews, please? It would mean the world if someone offered some input. **


	6. Morphine

**Oh, hey there, readers. Long time, no see. Sorry for the absence, I know I hate when people do that crap.**

**Oh no.**

**What have I become?**

"Sir?"

Arthur's eyelids fluttered. His eyes rolled as he desperately fought off the exhaustion.

"Sir, can you hear me? Don't worry, buddy."

His arm was on fire. His whole _goddamn arm_ was on fire. Arthur opened his eyes.

~vOvOvOvOvOv~

"Pick up. Pick up. Pick _up_, Cobb." Eames was sitting in a parked ambulance. They had a young EMT – very young, straight out of training, he looked - working on stitching up his arm, upon his request. He hated hospitals.

There had been an accident, and Cobb wouldn't pick up his phone.

_Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring…. "Hello, you've reached Dominic Cobb. I'm obviously not able to-"_

Eames hung up the phone with a frustrated sigh. He gritted his teeth as the young man went sloppy on his stitches. "Bloody hell, give me that!" Eames snatched the thread away from the startled kid. "Rookie," Eames muttered, the needle held in between his teeth as he rolled his shirtsleeve higher. Eames couldn't hold the needle straight in his trembling hands. He needed Cobb. Arthur needed Cobb. God knows what Ariadne needed; they hadn't let him see her. They had loaded her and Arthur in the same bus and Eames had only gotten to see Arthur, sitting on the ground –

_Ring! Ring! Ri-_

"Cobb!" Eames had thrust the needle back at the kid, making him jump. "Cobb! Cobb, there's been an accident. Arthur, he was about to- and Ariadne, I don't know where she is! They took them to some godforsaken hospital."

"Eames."

And Ari, she's, I don't even know, mate. Arthur looked pretty rough; only saw him for a minute. And we need to, we need to – "

"Eames!"

Eames took a deep breath. The young EMT was being extremely careful with his stitches.

Cobb's reassuring voice came through the phone. "There's been an accident, that much I know. Where are you, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm at the intersection at Lincoln and Venice. I don't know where they took Arthur, or Ariadne. They looked bad, boss."

"Alright. I'm on my way."

~vOvOvOvOvOv~

Everything was white and there was an IV hanging next to him, IVs stacked neatly on a shelf above him.

"_Where am I?"_

There was a pressure against Arthur's head, a hard pressure against the outside of his thigh.

He was so tired, so extremely tired. But he had to stay awake – he had to fight this creeping wave – but _why?_ What was so important that he felt desperation clawing up his throat, screaming white noise in his ear, and making him feel just so _helpless._

"_Got to get up. Is this an ambulance? Yes, an ambulance. Why?"_

Arthur's head was so scrambled he could barely get one coherent thought across. He once again fought to get up – to support himself - he shouldn't be here.

"Hey, buddy, you just stay still. We're coming into the ICU bay now. You just hold on, the doctors will take good care of you."

"_Who was that? ICU? And __**why the fuck did his arm burn so much?**__"_

Arthur brought his head back down on the cot, his thigh throbbing uncomfortably. He began to feel again. Arthur's face contorted with pain as he felt the total effects of feeling.

Through almost-shut eyes, he saw a woman's face hover over him, the lines going fuzzy with each dull throb which now seemed to be coming from his entire body. She was wearing white, with a high collar. He saw her reach over to him, grab a clear tube. A slight pull on his arm – "_Feels like the PASIV."_ – and he no longer felt anything. He was floating.

Arthur looked around, not really absorbing anything. The white lady threw what seemed to be syringe – _"Syringe? Weird word. Sir-Enge." –_ And his head, Arthur no longer in control of anything, was tossed to face the other side of the ambulance. He saw shelves stacked with medical equipment. Bandages, deregulators, more syringes, even a stethoscope. Arthur could feel himself fading now, the will to fight almost completely replaced with a medically-induced calm. His eyes traveled up from the dirty, red floor – _"Red? Odd color. Familiar." _– And he noticed another cot, this one's occupant still. Extremely still. His eyes floated across the small form, not noticing anything, passing over dark jeans, a floral shirt, a pale scarf, soft brown hair – all stained with red.

His eye's had almost reached the face when a loud beeping noise pervaded the air and the White Lady, quite obnoxiously, rushed over and blocked Arthur's climb.

The Ambulance turned suddenly and came to a screeching halt. A smell of burning rubber triggered Arthur's lagging mind.

"_Fire. There was an accident. But when? There was an explosion."_

People opened the doors and jumped in the vehicle, grabbing the other cot and starting to carry it out. Arthur's tired eyes saw a flash of pale skin as the other occupant was being moved.

With his mind finally succumbing to the drugs, Arthur saw a thin, pale wrist dangling - like a dead leaf – and the surge of memories burst into his mind. His eyes started closing, his mind going, as he whispered her name.

"Ariadne."

**Yup. Feel free to rant! I know I would. 'Cause that time lapse was just ridiculous.**


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